POLITICAL SCIENCE M.A.

M.A. Program in Political Science (POSC)

Marquette University offers one of the best M.A. programs in Political Science in the United States. The program is at the same time rigorous and flexible, and it provides a strong foundation for further graduate or law study, as well as for careers in government or in non-governmental organizations which require an understanding of politics and public policy.

The M.A. program requires 30 credits of graduate-level work. The Department offers course work in the following fields:

Political Philosophy (classical, modern, contemporary, and American thought, as well as additional specialized subjects).

American Politics (Congress and the presidency; constitutional law; political parties, interest groups, and voting behavior; urban politics; politics of race, ethnicity, and gender; public policy; and political economy).

Comparative Politics (political economy, development, public policy, nationalism, and democratization; area specializations include Western Europe, East and South Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe, Latin America; on an occasional basis, the Middle East and Africa).

International Politics (international relations, organizations, law, and human rights; international political economy; globalism and crime; national and international security; nationalism; and foreign policies of countries and regions listed above).

Students are required to take two types of graduate seminars -- core seminars and research seminars -- although students also have ability to take upper level undergraduate courses in the Political Science Department for graduate credit, "cognate" courses outside the department, and independent study courses designed by student and the supervising professor.

Core Seminars and Research Seminars

Core seminars in American Politics (POSC 6201), Comparative Politics (POSC 6401), International Politics (POSC 6601), and Political Philosophy (POSC 6801) survey the scholarly literature in each field, while the research methods course (POSC 6101) provides students with an overview of various data collection and analysis techniques. Research seminars concentrate on a more narrowly-focused research question or questions in a particular field. Political Science M.A. students are required to take three of the following core seminars: POSC 6201, 6401, 6601, 6801; they also take POSC 6101.

Cognate Courses and Upper-Level Undergraduate Courses

Of the 30 credits counted toward the M.A. degree, 9 can come from outside the Department of Political Science. These "cognate" courses allow students to pursue topics related to their field of study in other disciplines through courses taught by other departments at Marquette University. Our M.A. students can also take a limited number of upper-level undergraduate courses on topics of particular interest to them. The student and professor agree on an additional set of requirements for the course in that case, and the credits count toward the 30 required for the M.A. degree.